Investigating the relationship between learning channel sets during the mathematical practice of autistic students

Abstract

Learning channels refer to the way students receive instruction and respond to it. We examined the relationship between See-Say and See-Write learning channel sets during the mathematical practice of four male autistic students, aged 8 to 14 years. Participants received practice in the ×7 and ×8 tables across both channel sets. Lessons included untimed practice, timed practice, graphing and goal-setting. A multiple treatments design, embedded in a multiple baseline across participants design, was used. When practice on a set was completed, an assessment of endurance, stability, application, generalisation to the other set and maintenance was conducted. Practice led to improvements that were maintained. Participants achieved learning rates above 30% per week, which is a minimum expectation in Precision Teaching. Practice on one set affected performance on the other, and the order of practice was an important variable. The See-Say channel set led to better generalisation outcomes while performance was stronger on the See-Write.

Commentary on “Implementation of an adapted handwriting without Tears® programme for children with developmental disabilities in a special education setting”

“…In this regard, precision teaching (PT) is a system for accurately specifying and consistently measuring performance data recorded on the Standard Celeration Chart (Evans et al, 2021). PT has been primarily applied to mainstream (McTiernan et al, 2018) and special education (Vostanis et al, 2021(Vostanis et al, , 2022 and effectively improves various academic skills in school-aged children (Gist and Bulla, 2022). Using this measurement system could support researchers and teachers seeking to use quantitative measurements to assess the effectiveness of evidence-based interventions implemented in special education (Lindsley, 1990).…”